NAHB and other industry groups recently provided Capitol Hill staffers with an update on how the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting (LRRP) rule is having a detrimental effect on the remodeling industry.

The final LRRP, which went into effect on April 22, 2010, requires remodelers and contractors who work in homes built prior to 1978 to be trained and certified in lead-safe work practices.

The EPA also removed the lead-paint rule’s opt-out provision that allowed home owners without children under age six or pregnant women in the home to sign a waiver in order to avoid the rule’s requirements.

As a result of the questionable removal of this provision, the number of homes covered by the rule rose from 38 million to 79 million. The EPA estimates this adds another $336 million to the rule’s compliance costs per year.

Implementation of this rule was too abrupt, and the EPA was unable to provide enough qualified and trained renovators to comply with these new rules, the staffers were told.

Furthermore, inadequate lead test kits produced more than 60% false positives, resulting in an EPA-estimated cost of $400 million in unnecessary compliance costs in the first year alone.

Representing NAHB at the Hill briefing was George “Geep” Moore, GMR, CAPS, CGP — 2011 vice chairman of NAHB Remodelers and president and owner of Moore Build Construction and Renovation in Elm Grove, La. —  who explained the practical effects of these new regulations on his business.

Moore noted that the LRRP rule has saddled his firm with substantial and unnecessary costs in order to perform routine home renovations and that he has been forced to pass much of these higher costs on to his customers in order to stay in business.

Those higher costs are discouraging consumers from making energy-efficient improvements or causing them to seek out uncertified contractors.

For more information, email Matt Watkins at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8327.

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